7 



IS 8 




Wheeler, Fverett P« 



SIR WILLIAM PEPERRELL 




ass. 



liook 







PRESENTED BY 



SIR WILLIAM PEPPERRELL 



LIEUTENANT-GENERAL 

SIR WILLIAM PEPPERRELL, bart 

ADDRESS 

DELIVERED BEFORE THE NEW YORK GENEALOGICAL 
AND BIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY 

BY 

EVERETT P. WHEELER 



APRIL, 1887 



WITH APPENDIX CONTAINING NOTICE OF 
HON. WILLIAM JARVIS 



SIR WILLIAM PEPPERRELL. 



By Everett P. Wheeler. 



The lustre of the great names of the men who carried the colonists 
successfully through the Revolutionary war, and who framed the Consti- 
tution under which this country has prospered for almost a century, has 
obscured that of those under whose guidance and leadership it became 
possible for our people successfully to conduct their long war against the 
mother country. The fame of the early colonists, of the Pilgrims who 
sailed in the Mayflower ; of the Cavaliers who landed at Jamestown, has 
been celebrated in history and in poetry, but comparatively little atten- 
tion has been paid to the period intermediate between the settlement of 
North America and the Declaration of Independence. 

One of the most distinguished of the men who at that time directed 
the affairs of the colonies is the subject of this address. He was a typical 
American ; typical of a time when the exigencies of life were such that a 
man of talent could not limit himself or his intelligence to one particular 
occupation, but when the necessities of the situation in which our fathers 
were placed, compelled him in his time to play many parts, which in a 
later and more complex civilization would be filled by different individuals. 

William Pepperrell commenced life as a merchant, and a merchant he 
continued for thirty years. Yet during that time he became Chief Justice 
of the Court of Common Pleas in Maine. Not only this, but as general 
of the colonial forces, he conducted the most successful and brilliant cam- 
paign in which the colonists were unaided by troops from the mother 
country. 

It is not easy for us to realize the conditions of society that existed along 
our seaboard prior to the Declaration of Independence. The colonists 
had, it is true, left their homes across the Atlantic, some of them for pur- 
poses of commerce, some of them with the eagerness for discovery which 
at that time pervaded all Europe, and some of them to find in the new 
world the religious freedom which had been denied them in the old. But 
all alike were loyal to the mother country and its sovereign. All alike 
respected the aristocratic institutions under which that country had pros- 
pered, and the thought of abolishing those distinctions which formed a 
part of their whole surroundings was far from the mind of any of them. 



2 Sir William Pepperrcll. 

A degree of honor was paid to those high in office, of which this 
country since the Revolution has furnished no example. At the same 
time the condition of the colonies, the smaller size of the cities and vil- 
lages, the difficulties of communication, all combined to compel the be- 
ginnings of that sense of equality of rights and privileges which afterwards 
found its embodiment in the Constitution of the United States. The op- 
portunities for advancement were as great, and advancement itself as rapid, 
as it has ever since become. 

The father of Sir William Pepperrell was a native of Devonshire in 
England. He was left an orphan at an early age, without resources of 
any kind except his own indomitable courage. He was apprenticed to 
the captain of a fishing schooner employed on the coast of Newfoundland, 
and when he finished his term of service he took up his abode on one of 
the Isles of Shoals. These are rocky points almost entirely barren, which 
rise out of the sea about nine miles east of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 
and seem like ships anchored in the midst of the ocean. They were, in 
the time of the Pepperrells, inhabited by fishermen who sought these 
lonely isles for security from the Indians and who found in their adven- 
turous trade the means of earning a livelihood, and, in one instance at 
least, the means of acquiring the beginnings of a fortune. William 
Pepperrell, the Elder, formed a partnership with one Gibbon?, who came 
over from England, in the fishing business. They acquired several ves- 
sels, cured the fish which were caught, and sold them in England and 
the Southern colonies. Finally Gibbons removed to the eastward, while 
Pepperrell came to Kittery Point, below Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 
which was then a thriving commercial settlement. Here William Pep- 
perrell the younger was born June 27th, 1696, and here somewhat later 
in the century, the father, when he had acquired a fortune, erected a man- 
sion subsequently enlarged by his son, and which is still standing, a mon- 
ument of the old colonial days, on the shores of the Piscataqua River, 
just before it enters the sea. 

The visitor to that part of Maine, who drives back a few miles from 
the ocean, will discover here and there a stockade or round house, erected 
for the purpose of protection from the Indians. They thronged the Maine 
woods in the early part of the eighteenth century, and were engaged in 
frequent warfare with the colonists, who were therefore constantly on the 
alert. Every man was a soldier from necessity. His firelock stood in the 
corner, ready for use at a moment's notice. It was this constant experi- 
ence of Indian warfare that inured the inhabitants of the colonies to every 
variety of hardship, and made them the rugged and daring soldiers who 
withstood the British charge at Bunker Hill, who carried Stony Point at 
the point of the bayonet, who defeated the disciplined armies of England 
and Germany at Saratoga and Yorktown. 

What is commonly known as education — that is to say, a scholastic 
training — was vouchsafed to few of them. William Pepperrell, like most 
of the other young men of his time, had little of this beside reading, 
writing, and arithmetic. His father, however, employed an instructor who 
taught him surveying and navigation, the measuring of the land, and the 
tracing a pathway over the trackless ocean — two arts which to a colonist 
and navigator were essentially important. But his frame was hardened 
by constant activity in the open air, by contests with the savages, by ex- 
plorations in the woods of Maine, by voyages on the sea. He met in 



Sir William Pcpperrell. -i 

the course of these adventures all sorts and conditions of men, from the 
Governor in the old mansion at Portsmouth, which Longfellow has im- 
mortalized, to the Indian in the forest. His mind and heart were en- 
larged by the spirit of progress which filled the breast of every active col- 
onist, and the capacity to command which distinguished him throughout 
his life, showed itself at an early age. 

As partner in his father's commercial enterprise, he extended th'e 
sphere of business of the firm. Their warehouses were filled with fish 
from the Banks of Newfoundland, with sugar and molasses from the West 
Indies, with hemp and iron, linen and silk from Great Britain, with naval 
stores from the Carolinas. The firm owned more than a hundred vessels, 
and their name and ensign were to be seen in London, and in Bristol, in 
the Havannah, and at Charleston, in Wilmington, and Boston. The for- 
tune increased rapidly, and part of it was invested in immense tracts of 
land in Maine, where the great pine trees were cut and floated down the 
rivers, and built into ships which added in their turn to the wealth and 
prosperity of the firm of William Pepperrell & Son. Soon after he was 
twenty-four, he established a branch of the house in Boston ; in 1726 he 
was chosen representative in the Massachusetts Legislature from Kittery, 
and in the following year was appointed by Governor Belcher a member 
of the Massachusetts Council. When hardly twenty-one years of age he 
was commissioned as captain of a company of cavalry, and soon after be- 
came major, and lieutenant-colonel, and in the same year in which he 
was elected representative to the Legislature, was commissioned as colo- 
nel and placed in command of all the Maine militia. 

Meanwhile, as these distinctions came to him and his prosperity grew, 
he was blessed also with domestic happiness. During his visits to Boston 
he met a granddaughter of Chief Justice Sewall, Mary Hirst of York. He 
won her affections, and on the 10th of March, 1723, they were married. 
The husband added to the father's house by an addition at its northern 
end, nearly doubling the size of the whole, and to this new part of the 
old manor house he brought his bride soon after they were married. 

The good judgment which Pepperrell showed as a member of the 
Council so impressed the Governor that when in 1730 he appointed vari- 
ous members of the Court of Common Pleas for Maine, he appointed 
William Pepperrell, Jr., the Chief Justice, and this office he continued to 
hold until his death. It appears from the papers which were preserved in 
his office, and which were examined after his death, that he did not rely 
entirely upon the light of nature to guide him in his decisions as judge, 
but that immediately upon his appointment he sent to London for a law 
library. The records of his court, and the testimony of all his contem- 
poraries, show that though not bred a lawyer, he administered justice with 
a firm and even hand to the entire satisfaction of litigants, and of the 
whole community. 

In 1734 his father died, and he succeeded to the business of the firm, 
and to the greater part of the large tracts of land in Maine, ©f which his 
father had become the owner. This accession to his fortune did not 
diminish his business activity. He continued President of the Council, 
and for reasons both of public affairs and private business, he resided with 
his family during a large part of every year in Boston, where his two chil- 
dren, Elizabeth and Andrew, were educated, Andrew entering Harvard 
College in 174 1. The following year his daughter Elizabeth married Col. 



a Sir William Pepperrell. 

Sparhawk, a Boston merchant, and they went to live at Kittery, near her 
father's house, where Pepperrell built for his daughter the beautiful speci- 
men of the old colonial architecture which is still standing, and which, 
with its wainscoting, its carved mantels, its winding staircase, and all the 
other elaborate decoration of those days, has been reproduced in a mod- 
ern form in some of the best work of McKim, Mead, and White. 

Meanwhile, the politics and wars of Europe were a source of constant 
interest and apprehension to the colonists. England had been at war 
with Spain, and the naval battles which the two nations, then more 
equally matched, fought for possession of the West Indies, were a source 
of as much interest in Boston and New York as they were in London and 
Bristol. The English were getting the better of the conflict, and the ap- 
prehension became general that Spain would seek and secure an alliance 
with France, and that the result would be a war between the allied 
powers and England, which would involve the colonies. 

In 1743, Governor Shirley received dispatches from England, that in 
all probability war would soon be declared. In October of that year 
Governor Shirley transmitted the intelligence to Col. Pepperrell, with in- 
structions to put the frontier immediately in a state of preparation for war. 
A copy of this, Pepperrell at once transmitted to his officers, and adds, 
"I hope that He who gave us our breath will give us the courage and 
prudence to behave ourselves like true-born Englishmen." 

On the 15th of March, 1744, war was declared by the French, and 
hostilities at once began in Nova Scotia. The islands of Cape Breton and 
Newfoundland are at opposite sides of the entrance to the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence, which is there about ninety miles wide. The French, in order 
to guard the entrance to the Gulf, and protect their Canadian possessions, 
had erected on the Island of Cape Breton, the strongest fortress in the new 
world, the great citadel of Louisburg. The garrison of this fort was a 
constant menace to the colonists, and the fort itself was a depot of warlike 
supplies for all the French armies in Canada. The harbor of Louisburg 
was capacious, and afforded a safe anchorage for the French men-of-war, 
a place of refuge for their merchantmen and fishing vessels, and a most 
convenient rendezvous for their privateers. The entrance to this harbor 
is only 1,200 feet wide, and in the centre of this channel is an island very 
similar to that on which Fort Lafayette is built at the Narrows. Indeed, 
the harbor of Louisburg is even more landlocked and secure than the in- 
ner Bay of New York, for the width of the Narrows at its narrowest part 
is a mile, more than four times that of the entrance to the Harbor of 
Louisburg. 

On this island the French had erected a fortification, and another was 
placed within range on the northwestern side of the harbor ; the three for- 
tifications being thus arranged so as to protect each other. The ramparts 
were of stone, from thirty to thirty-six feet high, with a ditch eighty feet 
wide and extended over a circuit of nearly two miles. The works had 
been building for twenty-five years, and were believed to be impregnable 
by any forces that the British could bring against them. 

The French had been preparing for war, and had secured the neutral- 
ity and possibly the alliance of many of the Penobscot Indians, who up to 
that time had been believed to be friendly to the English. Col. Pepper- 
rell Vent at the head of a delegation to them, asking for their feupport in 
the war, but the application was refused, the Sagamores stating that they 




VIEW OF LOUISBOURG.i 



1 A reduced sketch from a painting owned by Mrs. Anna H. C. Howard of Brooklyn, N. Y., which came 
to her by descent from Sir William Pepperrell. The canvas is very dark and obscure, and the artist may 
have missed some of the details, particularly of the walls along the shore. The point of view seems to be 
from the northwest side of the interior harbor, near the bridge (seen in the foreground), which spans one 
of the little inlets, as shown in some of the maps. This position is near what are called " Hale's Barracks " 
in the draft of the town and harbor on the preceding page. The dismantled ships along the opposite shore 
are apparently the French fleet, while an English ship is near the bridge. 

The following letter describes the present condition of the ground : — 

Boston, June 4, 1S86. 

My dear Mr. Winsor, — It gives me great pleasure to comply with your request, and to give my recol- 
lections of Louisburg as seen in September last. 

The historical town of that name, or rather the ruin of the old fortress, lies perhaps three miles from the 
modern town, which is a small village, situated on the northeasterly side of the bay or harbor. The inhabitants 
of the neighborhood live, for the most part, by fishing and other business connected with that branch of indus- 
try, eking out their livelihood by the cultivation of a rocky and barren soil. The road from the village to the 
old fortress runs along the western shore of the bay, passing at intervals the small houses of the fishermen 
and leaving on the left the site of the Royal Battery, which is still discernible. This was the first outpost of 
the French taken at the siege, and its gallant capture proved subsequently to be of the greatest service to the 
English. From this point the ruins of the fortress begin to loom up and show their real character. Soon 
the walls are reached, and the remains of the former bastions on the land side are easily recognized. This 
land front is more than half a mile in length, and stretches from the sea on the left to the bay on the right. 
forming a line of works that would seem to be impregnable to any and all assaults. From its crown a good 
idea can be gained of the size of the fortifications, which extend in its entire circuit more than a mile and 
a half in length, and inclose an area of a hundred and twenty acres, more or less. The public buildings within 
the fortress were of stone, and, with the help of a guide, their sites can easily be made out. The burying- 
ground, on the point of land to the eastward, where hundreds of bodies were buried, is still shown ; and the 
sheep and cattle graze all unconscious of the great deeds that have been done in the neighborhood. Taken 
all in all, the place is full of the most interesting associations, and speaks of the period when the sceptre of 
power in America was balancing between France and England; and Louisburg forms to-day the grandest 
min in this part of the continent. 

Very truly yours.. Samuel A. Green. 



Sir William Pepperrell. c 

would not fight against their brethren of St. John's and New Brunswick. 
No one could tell how far this' defection had extended, and the conviction 
at once became general in New England that, as long as this formidable 
fortress remained so near their borders, they could never hope for security 
in any hostilities with the French. The Legislatures of the New England 
colonies in winter session discussed plans for action, and sent letters to 
the provinces of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Governor 
Clinton, of New York, urged the Legislature to appropriate ^"5,000 for 
the expenses of the expedition, and after much persuasion they contrib- 
uted ^3,000, while the Governor, at his own expense, sent some cannon. 
Pennsylvania sent some provisions. But the danger from Louisburg was 
not threatening enough to induce either of these colonies to do more, and 
they furnished no troops in the expedition which followed. The New 
England colonies were not, however, daunted, and resolved to summon 
all their forces for the attack. The immense armies that were raised in 
this country during the Civil War have so accustomed us to enormous 
hosts that the armies which were engaged in any of our previous wars seem 
to us insignificant. The whole number of troops engaged in the Louis- 
burg expedition would not have furnished a division to the Army of the 
Potomac. But in considering the importance of the undertaking, we 
should compare these numbers, not with those to which in a later day we 
have become accustomed, but with those of our earlier wars. Massachu- 
setts raised for the expedition, 3,250, Rhode Island, 300, New Hampshire, 
300, and Connecticut, 500, an army larger than th/i t with which General 
Taylor undertook the conquest of Mexico, and nearly equal to that with 
which he won the battle of Buena Vista. Yet that army was raised 
by the whole United States at a time when their population was nearly ten 
times the whole population of the colonies at the Revolution, and more 
than twenty times that of New England in 1745. 

Not only did the colonists send an army, but they contributed a por- 
tion of the navy that sailed for Louisburg; fourteen vessels in all, with 
204 guns. 

When the New England Legislatures had provided for raising the 
troops, the question arose, who should command them ? A long period 
of peace had left the colonists without any officers of experience in large 
military manoeuvres, but amongst those who had commanded in the 
border wars with the Indians, there was none who possessed the con- 
fidence of the people to the degree that did the subject of this sketch, and 
he was unanimously selected for the position. He was very reluctant to 
accept it, and, while the matter was under consideration, consulted his 
guest, the famous George Whitefield, who was then on one of his mis- 
sionary expeditions through New England. Whitefield's reply was frank. 
He said : " I do not think the scheme very promising ; if you take the 
appointment, the eyes of all will be upon you ; if you do not succeed, the 
widows and orphans of the slain will reproach you. If you should suc- 
ceed, many will regard you with envy and endeavor to eclipse your glory. 
You ought, therefore, if you go at all, to go with a single eye, and you 
will find your strength proportioned to your necessity.'' Pepperrell de- 
liberated until his friend Governor Shirley assured him that there was no 
one else in New England under whose leadership the colonists could be 
sure of raising the troops necessary for the purpose, and Pepperrell finally 
accepted, and then asked Whitefield to give him a motto for their colonial 



5 Sir William Pepperrell. 

flag. The motto given was characteristic of the enterprise. It was "Nil 
Desperandum, Christo Dure." The religious spirit which had brought so 
many of the colonists to New England had not lost all its enthusiasm. 
The bitterness which sprung from the wars and persecutions that followed 
the Reformation had by no means disappeared, and to many of those who 
engaged in the expedition it almost assumed the character of a crusade. 

The Massachusetts troops sailed on the 24th of March for Canso Bay, 
which was the place agreed upon for a rendezvous. Meanwhile Gov. 
Shirley was in correspondence with Commodore Peter Warren, who com- 
manded the West India fleet, and it was generally believed that that fleet 
would take part in the expedition. Warren at first declined. The re- 
fusal was received the very day before Pepperrell sailed, but he was noth- 
ing daunted, and determined to make the attempt with the colonial 
forces alone. About three weeks, however, after the arrival at Canso, and 
while the forces were at work making their own cartridges, a fact which il- 
lustrates one of the differences between the warfare of those days and that 
of modern times, three large men-of-war loomed up on the horizon, and 
when they came nearer, they were discovered to be under the command 
of Commodore Warren. These ships and those that followed them were 
certainly a great accession to the forces, and aided essentially in the block- 
ade which contributed largely to the reduction of the city. The troops 
sailed from Canso on the 29th of April, and arrived the next morning at 
Gabarus Bay — a curious corruption of the name given it by the French, 
— chapeau rouge. The precautions which Pepperrell had directed to con- 
ceal the proximity of the troops from the garrison at Louisburg had been 
entirely successful, and the first intelligence they had of the expedition 
was the arrival of the English and provincial fleet and the boats in which 
the soldiers rowed ashore. A detachment from the garrison was at once 
sent out to meet them, and on the rocky coast of the Island, the first 
blood was shed in the campaign. The provincials effected a landing, and 
drove the garrison back to their walls. A detachment of the invading 
army was at once despatched to reconnoitre. They set fire to some build- 
ings containing naval stores ; a panic seized upon the troops in the royal 
battery in the northwestern side of the harbor, who spiked their guns and 
fled to the citadel. Col. Vaughn, who commanded the detachment, at 
once took possession of the battery without waiting for orders. The French 
attacked him the next day, but were repulsed, and thus the second suc- 
cess of the siege was achieved. 

Meanwhile the remainder of the army landed, and the troops encamped 
in sight of the ramparts. These fortifications to the provincials, unused 
to such solid walls, seemed formidable indeed. Major Pomroy, of North- 
ampton, who had been detailed to drill out the touch-holes of the cannon 
that the French had spiked, wrote to his wife : " Louisburg is an exceed- 
ingly strong place and seems impregnable. It looks as if our campaign 
would last long, but I am willing to stay till God's time comes to deliver 
the city into our hands." 

His wife replied : "Suffer no anxious thought to rest in your mind 
about me. The whole town is much engaged with concern for the ex- 
pedition, how Providence will order the affair, for which religious meet- 
ings every week, are maintained. I leave you in the hand of God. " 

While Pomroy and his smiths were drilling away at the French can- 
non, Commodore Warren and Gen. Pepperrell were engaged in concert- 



Sir William Pepperrell. y 

ing a plan of campaign. But the Commodore always seems to have, 
found some good reason for not sending his marines to assist in an attack 
on the battery on the island at the entrance to the harbor, which Pepper- 
rell desired to storm, and all the combinations which the American gen- 
eral endeavored to effect for this purpose came to naught. The British 
ships guarded the entrance to the harbor, and captured a number of ves- 
sels, some of which were laden with supplies for the garrison, and they 
furnished some gunners and powder for the siege guns. This was their 
contribution to the success of the enterprise. The colonial troops at once 
commenced the erection of parallels and the mounting siege guns, under 
the immediate direction of Col. Gridley, who thirty years afterwards 
marked out the line of the famous intrenchment of Bunker Hill. 

The first parallel was begun about 4,600 feet from the northwest bas- 
tion, but the provincials soon erected another at about the half the dis- 
tance from the ramparts, and brought into action a mortar battery which 
commenced a brisk bombardment. Meanwhile Warren occupied himself 
in writing to the Government of the southern colonies for aid, and the 
provincials equipped a fire-ship which they sent in of a dark night and 
exploded in the harbor, but without any important results. A constant 
cannonade was kept up, the circle of fire gradually drew closer to the city, 
and on the 1 5th of May, a battery was finished a thousand feet from the west 
gate. The following day a discovery was made. Thirty cannon suitable 
for siege guns were discovered under water near the light-house at the en- 
trance to the harbor, and a party of provincials was sent to pull them 
out. The following night a sortie was made from the garrison with the 
purpose of driving away this detachment, but the attack was repulsed with 
slight loss. On the 18th, a breach was effected in the west gate. By 
this time the troops had approached so near that conversation began to be 
carried on from the ramparts to the trenches, accompanied as the letters 
tell, with hospitable invitations to breakfast, which, however, for the time 
were refused. 

On the 20th, Warren announced the capture of the Vigilant, a French 
vessel carrying sixty-four guns, and having on board reinforcements and 
military stores for the garrison. Meanwhile the breach which had been 
made in the wall was gradually enlarging, and the subject of an assault 
began to be discussed between Warren and Pepperrell. The fleet mean- 
while was increasing by the arrival of ships from England and the West 
Indies. The French constructed a battery in the night in the breach, but 
this was soon silenced by the provincial artillery. Signals were concerted, 
scaling ladders carried to the front, storming parties were told off, and all 
was ready for an assault when on the 15th of June, Gov. Duchambonsent 
out a flag of truce. The terms of capitulation were agreed upon on the 1 6th 
and 17th. The French were to march out with the honors of war and lay 
down their arms, and it was stipulated that they should "in considera- 
tion of their gallant defence," be sent back to France. On the 17th, Pep- 
perrell marched in at the head of his army, and the French garrison, 
numbering 1,960, surrendered. " Thus," says Bancroft, " did the strong- 
est fortress of North America capitulate to an army of undisciplined New 
England mechanics and farmers and fishermen. It was the greatest suc- 
cess achieved by England during the war." 

After the manner of their nation, and I may add, after the manner of 
their ancestors to the remotest antiquity, the English celebrated their vie- 



8 Sir William Pepperrell. 

tory by a dinner to their general. Parson Moody, of York, who was the 
senior chaplain present, was asked to pronounce the blessing. From fre- 
quent experience of the good parson, the apprehension had been that the 
blessing would be prolonged to a sermon, but the guests were agreeably 
surprised to hear him say, " Good Lord, we have so many things to thank 
hee for, that time will be infinitely too short to do it ; we must therefore 
leave it for the work of eternity." 

The news of the capture of Louisburg was received on both sides of 
the Atlantic with the utmost joy, not unmingled with surprise. The for- 
tress was so important, the French had been so long engaged in its con- 
struction, the means employed for its reduction appeared to European 
generals so comparatively insignificant, that the success almost transcended 
belief. On this side the Atlantic, Boston and Salem, New York and 
Philadelphia, blazed with bonfires and illuminations, and resounded with 
the ringing of bells and the firing of cannons. 

The Rev. Dr. Chauncy wrote to Pepperrell from Boston on the 4th 
of July, a day which then had not the significance which to us it has since 
obtained, " I heartily congratulate you upon the news we received yes- 
terday about break of day, of the reduction of Cape Breton. The people 
of Boston before sunrise, were as thick about the streets as on an election 
day, and a pleasing joy visibly sat on the countenance of every one met 
with. 

"As God has made you an instrument of so much service to your 
country, at the hazard of your life, and the expense of great labor and 
fatigue, your name is deservedly and universally spoken of with respect, and 
I doubt not will be handed down with honor to the latest posterity. 

" We had, last night, the finest illumination I ever beheld with my 
eyes. I believe there was not a house in town, in no by-lane or alley, 
but joy might be seen through its windows. The night also was made 
joyful by bonfires, fireworks, and all other external tokens of rejoicing ; 
but I hope we shall in a better manner still commemorate the goodness 
of God in this remarkable victory obtained against our enemies. I hear 
next Thursday is set apart for a day of general thanksgiving through the 
province ; and I believe there is not a man in the country but will heartily 
join in thanksgiving to God for his appearance on our behalf." 

But the public rejoicings were not confined to the colonies. Tower 
Hill, Cheapside and the Strand were illuminated as well as Beacon Street and 
Broadway. The messenger who brought to London the news of the sur- 
render received a present of five hundred guineas. Pepperrell was made a 
baronet, and received a commission as colonel in the British army; Warren 
was made a Knight of the Bath, was promoted to be Admiral, and made 
Governor of Cape Breton Island. 

It may interest you, as New Yorkers, to recall that after the peace of 
1749, Sir Peter Warren acquired a large tract of land on the west side of 
Manhattan Island and lived for a time near the Hudson River. One of 
his daughters married Richard Amos and resided here till her death, and 
many of her descendants still live in our midst. Another daughter mar- 
ried the Earl of Abingdon. * Amos Street and Abingdon Square formed 

* Willoughby Bertie, fourth Earl of Abingdon, b. 16th Jan., 1740: m. 7th July, 
1768, Charlotte, daughter and co-heiress of Admiral Sir Peter Warren, K. B. Lady 
Abingdon died in 1794- — Ed. 



Sir William Pepperrell. n 

a part of the Wairen farm, and were named for Sir Peter's daughters, as 
Warren Street was for himself. 

But to return to my subject. 

Pepperrell remained in Louisburg until 1746, where he received from 
the Legislature of Massachusetts an address congratulating him and his 
officers and soldiers, and tendering the grateful acknowledgments of the 
colon)' for their important services. His letter in reply is characteristic of 
the man, and will not, I hope, be uninteresting to my hearers : 

Louisburg, Aprils, 1746. 

Gentlemen : I am extremely obliged to the Honorable Council and 
House of Representatives of the province of the Massachusetts Bay, for 
their congratulation and compliments to me on the happy issue of the 
expedition against this place ; and for his Majesty's most gracious appro- 
bation of my services therein, which I had the honor of receiving from 
you the 2nd instant. Next to the consciousness of my having engaged 
in the important enterprise out of zeal for his Majesty's service and the 
welfare of my country, and that I have made it my constant aim to dis- 
charge the trust reposed in me with fidelity, nothing can give me a more 
sincere and lasting pleasure than my Royal Master's approbation, and my 
country's kind acceptance of my services. 

May the Lord of Hosts, who has given us the victory, ever defend and 
prosper this valuable acquisition, and grant that it may effectually answer 
the noble purposes for which our country was animated to attempt its con- 
quest, in the prosecution of which the generous concurrence of the pro- 
vince of the Massachusetts Bay, with his Excellency Governor Shirley's 
wise counsels and indefatigable application, had so great a share ; and may 
the happy consequences of our success be extensive as its fame, and last- 
ing as the honor due to the heroic resolution and exemplary bravery of 
the officers and soldiers, whom I shall always esteem it my great honor 
to have commanded. 

It is with pleasure that I observe my country's gratitude for the good 
service and assistance of the brave and worthy Admiral Warren, whose 
singular vigilance and good conduct rendered his having the direction of 
his Majesty's ships employed against this place peculiarly happy ; and I 
flatter myself that the harmony which has subsisted between us in the 
prosecution of his Majesty's service, has also had an happy effect; and I 
esteem it an auspicious aspect of Divine Providence upon this place, that 
a gentleman so peculiarly qualified and disposed to promote its prosperity, 
is appointed by his Majesty to the government of it. 

As I shall ever retain a most grateful sense of the many honors I have 
received from my country, nothing will give me greater pleasure than any 
opportunity further to approve myself a true friend to its interest and 
prosperity ; to which, if the honor and command conferred on me by his 
Majesty can any way contribute, it will enhance their value. 

WM. PEPPERRELL. 

In 1746, Sir William returned to Boston, and was re-elected President of 
the council which was then in session. He and Sir Peter Warren received 
a public reception from the Legislature, which was also in session, and 
on the 5th of July. Sir William left the city for his country seat at Kiltery. 
His journey thither was like a royal progress. He was received at the 



JO Sir William Pepperrell. 

different towns at which he stopped by companies of mounted troops, and 
was welcomed everywhere with military salutes, illuminations and festivi- 
ties of all sorts. 

In 1749 he visited England and was received with marked distinction. 
After his return, and in 1753, he conducted important negotiations with 
the Indians of Maine. In 1754 he received orders to raise a regiment of 
foot for the royal service, and while at New York, on military business, in 
1755, received a commission as major-general in the British army. Jeal- 
ousy on the part of Governor Shirley kept him from service in the field, 
but he exerted himself actively to raise troops for the war then going on 
with the French, and he was entrusted with the command of the forces 
which guarded the frontiers of Maine and New Hampshire. Just as the 
war began to be successful, on the 6th July, 1759, he died. 

His only son had died in 1 75 1, and his grandson, William Sparhawk, 
assumed the name of Pepperrell and succeeded to the title and the estates. 
When the Revolution began he adhered to his allegiance to the Crown, 
and in 1775 went to England. In 1778 he was proscribed, and in 1779 
the vast Pepperrell estate in Maine was confiscated by the colony. The 
extent of this may be judged from the fact that Sir William could travel 
for thirty miles in that state on his own land. 

With this confiscation, disappeared the one great baronial estate that 
New England ever saw. Its founder's family name has become extinct 
both in England and America. But the student of that important period 
in our country's history which preceded the peace of 1763, cannot fail to 
recognize the value of the services he. rendered to his country, nor to ap- 
preciate the fact, that those services contributed essentially to the indepen- 
dence of the colonies, and their union in the present United States of 
America. 

I wish I could present him to you as he appeared in the old State 
House, in the Hancock mansion in Boston, or in his own home at Kit- 
tery ; as Copley and Smybert have tried to depict him on canvas ; the 
well-knit frame, clad in the embroidered waistcoat and scarlet coat of the 
period, the regular features, oval face, the kindly but resolute eye, the 
manly carriage. 

A fisherman's son, he raised himself to honor and wealth. Although 
not bred a lawyer, he presided with ability as Chief Justice. Although 
not trained a soldier, he commanded the armies of the colonies with 
courage, fortitude, foresight, and success. No record has ever leaped to 
light that cast a shadow upon his memory. Just and upright in all his 
own dealings, he knew how to be generous and merciful to others ; fear- 
less and resolute himself, he knew how to encourage the wavering, and 
stimulate the doubting. He was politic without insincerity, liberal and 
hospitable without extravagance. 

The one controlling purpose of his life was to do his duty. He be- 
came in youth a member of the Congregational Church, and continued 
through his life a devout and consistent adherent to its principles. But 
he was free from that narrowness and bigotry that disfigure the character 
of some of the New England colonial leaders. He knew that the prin- 
ciples of Christianity are far beyond and above the distinguishing tenets of 
any particular body of Christians ; and at home and abroad, in the count- 
ing-house and the Legislature, on the Bench, or in command of the 
provincial army, he embodied in action the religious convictions that be- 



Sir William Pepperrell. \ \ 

came in youth an essential part — indeed, the foundation of his whole 
character. Perhaps the best evidence of this is that prosperity never 
made him arrogant, or marred the simplicity and straightforwardness of 
the man. And thus, to the day of his death, he enjoyed alike the con- 
fidence of the Indians in the Maine forests, the British Governors sent to 
rule the provinces, the merchants of Boston and London, tne aristocracy 
of Beacon street, and his plain rustic neighbors at Kittery. 



Appendix. 



APPENDIX 



SKETCH OF WILLIAM JARVIS, WHO MARRIED MARY PEPPERRELL SPARHAWK, GREAl 
GRANDDAUGHTER OF SIR WILLIAM PEPPERRELL. 

William Jarvis was born at Boston, February 4, 1770, and died at Weathersfield, 
Vermont, October 21, 1859. He was the son of Dr. Charles Jarvis, one of the most 
active of the Boston patriots of the Revolution. William was educated at Borden- 
town Academy, New Jersey, at a time when the present Courtlandt Street ferry 
crossed the Hudson River a few times a day in a horse boat, and when this was suffi- 
cient to transport all the traffic between the city of New York and the Southern and 
Middle States by the route crossing the Hudson. 

When of age he went into mercantile business in Boston, but failed, owing to the 
failure of a friend for whom he had endorsed. He settled with the creditors to their 
satisfaction, and went to sea as supercargo. His energy and force of character were 
such that in two voyages he made enough to purchase a third of a ship. Although 
he had no nautical experience, except that of these voyages, the other owners en- 
trusted him with her command. What he did not know he learned, and he navigated 
this vessel with great success for five years. In those days it was common for sea 
captains to engage in trade on their own account. Regular lines of packets were un- 
known, and a ship cruised from place to place wherever it could find a desirable 
cargo, much being left to the judgment and discrimination of the captain. The result 
of these adventures was, that Mr. Jarvis regained his fortune, paid his debts, and 
retired from the sea. 

In 1801 he was appointed by Mr. Jefferson Consul-general at Lisbon, and 
Charge d'Affaires at the Court of Portugal. This was during the English wars with 
Napoleon, and the position of our representatives in Europe was even more difficult 
than it afterwards was during the War of the Rebellion. American commerce was 
constantly assailed by the cruisers of the belligerents, and the impressment of our 
seamen by the British finally led to the war of 1812. Mr. Jarvis won a gieat reputa- 
tion by the dexterous management of the negotiations which he was obliged to con- 
duct from time to time, first with the Portuguese government, then with General 
Junot, the commander of the French forces who took possession of Lisbon in 1807 
and governed there until 180S, when the city was taken by the English under the 
Duke of Wellington ; and afterwards with the British authorities. Mr. Jefferson 
spoke of him as "preeminently among the faithful of the public servants." The 
consciousness of fidelity to duty and the approval of his chief were the only rewards he 
received. On his return to America, he found the national treasury almost bankrupt, 
and with characteristic independence, he never asked and never received a dollar of 
his salary. 

The duties of his post were so exacting that he was unable to return to America 
to wed the lady to whom he was engaged, Mary Pepperrell Sparhawk. But she, 
with a courage worthy of her great grandfather, Sir William Pepperrell, braved the 
perils of the sea and the greater dangers from British and French cruisers, and 
crossed the ocean to Lisbon in an American ship. She arrived in safety and was 
married to the subject of this sketch at St. Lucar, in 1S08. 

Mr. Jarvis continued to represent this country in Portugal until October, 1810. 
During this lime the departure of the Braganzas to Brazil took place, and the over- 
throw of the Spanish royal family. The flocks of merino sheep which up to that time 
had remained exclusively the property of the Spanish and Portuguese grandees were 
offered for sale. Mr. Jarvis was satisfied that the raising of sheep and the growth of 
wool could be conducted successfully in New England, and he purchased and ex- 
ported to America large numbers of merinos, many of them from the Paular flocks 
of Godoy. Some of these he presented to prominent public men, and they were dis- 
tributed from Maine to Virginia. Our minister at Madrid, Mr. Humphreys, did the 
same, and from the flocks thus sent to this country by these two gentlemen, the 
merino sheep throughout the Union, are descended. The wealth that was thus 
brought to us has been so great that they may fairly be called the American Jason S 
They certainly brought to us a fleece which experience proved to be golden. 

In 1812 Mrs. Jarvis died, leaving two children. About this time Mr. Jarvis, 



I a Appendix. 

having determined to give up business and lead thenceforth the life of a country gen- 
tleman, purchased a large tract of land on the bank of the Connecticut River, in the 
town of Weathersfield. In 1817 he married again, and brought his bride to his Ver- 
mont home, where he resided till his death. There were born to them ten children, 
four of whom survived their father. 

Weathersfield Bow was one of those curious hamlets common before the days of 
railroads, of which few now remain. The little village was almost sufficient to itself. 
The flocks and herds of the farmers provided them with meat ; the skins were tanned 
in the village tannery, and made into shoes and boots by the village shoemaker ; the 
wool of the sheep was spun and woven by the village housewives on hand-looms, and 
made by the village tailors into garments ; the maple trees supplied sugar ; the can- 
dles were tallow dips made from the fat of the cattle that had been slaughtered by 
the village butcher. The wheat raised on their meadows was ground in the village 
grist-mill : and their houses were built from their own tall pines. When the railroad 
from Boston reached the opposite side of the river in 1849, all these local industries 
vanished, and the neighborhood became exclusively agricultural. 

Mr. Jarvis continued to carry on his farms, which he personally superintended, for 
many years, and always pointed with just pride to his pure-blooded merinos. He 
took an active interest in public affairs, was an ardent friend and admirer of 
Henry Clay, and active in the Whig party, although he never would consent to 
accept the offices that were frequently tendered him. Although a Whig, and a high 
tariff man, he never advocated a duty on wool. He believed that free wool would 
enable the manufacturers to import wools from all nations, and that the active demand 
for American-fleeces which would be produced by the prosperity of the manufacturer 
was more beneficial to the wool grower than any bounty produced by a tax on the 
imported article. 

He retained his health and vigor until a few months before his death. He was 
the friend of the whole neighborhood, respected by every one, and was always the 
person applied to for advice and assistance. He will long be remembered in the 
valley of the Connecticut as Consul Jarvis. 



The Address is reprinted from the Record of the New York 
Genealogical and BiocxRaphical Society; the Appendix is 
from Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography ; the 
Portrait and View are from Wixsor's History of America, by 
permission of Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 






.! 



'/:: 



Press of J J. Little & Co , Astor Place, New York.-; 



